HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH is currently undergoing a planned engineering period in Portsmouth, before returning to sea trials; she is not yet a fully operational platform.

The Ministry of Defence has no plans to operate any jet aircraft from HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH other than the F-35B Lightning II, for which the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers have been specifically designed. We have taken delivery of 12 F-35B jets so far, and will have 14 by the end of the year.

We plan to conduct first-of-class flying trials with F-35B in autumn 2018, as part of the programme to deliver an initial Carrier Strike capability by the end of 2020.